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Deeplinks Blog posts about Privacy

Today, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes announced [PDF] plans for hearings on the NSA spying program. Investigations of this still-shadowy surveillance are long overdue, and we're hopeful that this is only the beginning of vigorous Congressional oversight.

In particular, Reyes' stated intention to dig into the telecommunications companies' role is encouraging. EFF has been fighting hard in the courts to hold AT&T accountable for violating its customers privacy and the law, and Congress must fulfill its duty to help uncover the truth about the telcos' collaboration with the government

On the heels of a letter from House Judiciary Committee leaders, Senate Judiciary Committee's heads Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter wrote to the Attorney General demanding information about the illegal NSA domestic spying program:

"The Committee on the Judiciary is charged with overseeing and legislating on constitutional protections, civil and criminal justice, civil liberties, and the Judiciary, all subjects that this matter impacts. We intend to do our job.

Now House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler have written to Gonzales demanding more information about the still-shadowy NSA program. Along with asking for information related to Comey's testimony, they stated:

In light of former Deputy Attorney General James Comey's testimony before the Senate yesterday, four senators pressed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for more answers about the NSA spying program:

"Specifically, Mr. Comey testified that you and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card went to Mr. Ashcroft's bedside at George Washington Hospital, where he was in intensive care, in an effort to get him to agree to certify the legality of a classified program that he and Mr. Comey, who was serving as acting Attorney General at the time, had concluded should not be so certified. Mr. Comey stated that when the Administration decided to go forward with reauthorizing this classified program without that certification, he and several other Justice Department officials, including possibly Attorney General Ashcroft himself, were ready to tender their resignations.

"President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program was so questionable that a top Justice Department official refused for a time to reauthorize it, sparking a battle with top White House officials at the bedside of an ailing attorney general, a Senate panel was told Tuesday.

"Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that he refused to recertify the program because Attorney General John Ashcroft had reservations about its legality just before falling ill with pancreatitis in March 2004."

On January 1, 2006, the NY Times recounted a similar set of events, though Mr. Comey declined to comment on the story.